Friday, October 17, 2008

This has got to be a joke, but sadly, it looks to be true. Australia has plans to establish a nation-wide content filter on the internet in Australia, looking to filter out content inappropriate for children. This is not an opt-in service. It is mandatory.

Look, I'm all for protecting innocent minds, but content filtering is the lazy person's way of babysitting internet users. It doesn't work. Too many false positives, very little relevant material blocked.

Content filtering is about as effective as security screening at airports - it doesn't improve safety one iota, it makes the dumb people feel better and it's a complete pain in the ass.